Page:The Native Races of the Pacific States, volume 2.djvu/203



the manner in which the Aztec monarchs lived. The policy they pursued toward their subjects was to enforce obedience and submission by enacting laws that were calculated rather to excite awe and dread than to inspire love and reverence. To this end they kept the people at a distance by surrounding themselves with an impassable barrier of pomp and courtly etiquette, and enforced obedience by enacting laws that made death the penalty of the most trivial offenses. There was little in common between king and people; as is ever the case between a despot and his subjects. The good that the kings did by their liberality and love of justice, and the success they nearly all achieved by their courage and generalship, merited the admiration of their subjects. On the other hand, the oppression which they made their vassals feel, the heavy burdens they imposed upon them, their own pride and arrogance, and their excessive severity in punishments, engendered what we should now call a debasing fear, but which is none the less an essential element of progress at certain stages.[92]